Can You Get a Refund of the Chase Sapphire Reserve Annual Fee?

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I called Chase and you can get the annual fee refunded if you cancel your card within 60 days of the fee being charged. But I wouldn’t recommend doing this. Because you’ll likely lose any Chase Ultimate Rewards points you earned.

Still Want to Cancel?

If you decide to cancel soon after getting the new card, Chase could think you’re abusing their rewards program. This means you might not get approved for any Chase cards in the future.

If you decide the card’s perks aren’t worth the annual fee, you can call Chase to cancel the card within 60 days of the fee being charged. But Chase will likely remove any Chase Ultimate Rewards points you earned.

It’s possible Chase could allow you to downgrade to a no annual fee card. But I couldn’t confirm this with a Chase representative because the Sapphire Reserve is still so new.

I typically recommend keeping a card open ~8 to ~10 months. Then, you can decide if the card’s perks are worth the annual fee. This helps establish a good relationship with the banks.

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20 responses to “Can You Get a Refund of the Chase Sapphire Reserve Annual Fee?”

Thank you for the informative article. But I don’t understand this line “Because you can earn the annual fee back (and then some) if you use the $300 annual travel credit twice in the first year you have the card”. Can you please help me understand how you can get the travel credit twice in a year when it is called ‘annual travel credit’?

@Clayton – The travel credit is available each calendar year so if you were recently approved you could use your $300 credit for 2016 before end of the year and then use the 2017 credit of $300 early in ’17 and then your next annual fee for the card won’t be charged until your anniversary date. So you could get $600 in travel credits and cancel your card before the anniversary date and only have paid $450 in annual fees.

Clanton,
You can get the annual credit every calendar year. So if you got the card September 2016, your annual fee is good until August 2017. But you can get $300 travel credit in 2016 and then again in January 2017, on the same annual fee that’s good until September 2017. However if you keep the card, you’d pay the $450 in September 2017 but can’t get another travel credit until January 2018.

Clayton, The travel credit is issued on a per year bases starting in January. So you can use the credit in 2016 and again in 2017 having both credits awarded months before your one year anniversary of card activation.
I hope that helps clear it up.

I think the new thing Chase is doing is that they’re actually pro-rating the charges which means the $450 will be divided by 365 and whatever portion of the year you don’t use, they will refund you for those days only, and not the entire amount. That’s what they did with the chase sapphire reserve card I product changed into the FU.

@Eric – did you mean that you PC your Sapphire Preferred to the FU? If so, how long did you have it open? I tried doing that when I got the Reserve and my only downgrade option was the old basic Sapphire card (no longer offered).

Thanks for researching my question. I actually meant there was a question if chase would refund your second annual fee after you keep the card for over a year. But since they will refund your first annual fee, they probably will the second. the issue came up because a rep told me on the phone that the card was special and could not be refunded. the rep was obviously ignorant. thanks again

We just got this card and are working on spending the required amount to get the 100K points. Do I have to wait to use the $300 travel credit until I’ve spent enough to get the points, or is it available now?

Actually you can get an automatic full credit if closed within 90 days of billing. Product change is only available (sometimes) after a year of having the card and that is the only situation that pro-rates the credit.

Signed up for the card. Cashed out the 100k bonus and 300k travel credit. Then closed the account and got a full refund of the annual fee. Then upgraded my existing sapphire preferred card to premier. Chase didn’t seem to care. I’ve heavily used my sapphire card for many years.

Seems like you were unlucky. I opened my card on Sep. 19 and I got the metal card. Not in a fancy box though

Regarding your second question, I guess you will see the fee on your first statement. It’s a little bit weird that my initial (0$) due date is Nov. 16 so the first statement won’t close till probably Nov. 19 (My account says “next closing date: Not Available” but I used the fact that closing date is often 3 days after due date). This means I don’t have to pay for 2 months + 21 days (of next statement’s due date)!

A, the reimbursement for global or travel doesn’t count towards the $4k. Had to be charges that you pay for and that isn’t fees or returns, etc. I just was approved today 10/20 and according to online my due date isn’t until dec 16. Guess they take 2 weeks to get you a card, 3 weeks to use it, then 21 days for your first due date.

Hello, I didn’t meet the $4000 in the first 3 months. I spent more than $4000 in the first 3 months, but annual fee does not count, and there is a $300 travel credit, so the total purchase is $3750 in the first 3 months. I just found it out from my bill yesterday. Does that mean I lost 100000 sign-up bonus points? Is there anything I can do?

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